I'm at Mar del Plata right now for the FibaAmericas tournament. It's a shame Leandrinho Barbosa isn't on Brazil's roster. Right now, Puerto Rico is facing Paraguay. Later tonight Canada will debut against Brazil.

I'll tweet about the game. Follow me at @raul_ruscitti After the game I'll make some interviews to the canadian players

Raul, you're the man! I understand my man Cory Joseph will be playing along with Andy Rautins and Joel Anthony. I wonder why Tristan Thompson is missing.

Jonas Valanciunas - 4 min - 0 pts 0 shot attempts 2 rebs 2 to, 1 foul - that's fine for a first game. no big deal.
he's learning from the old guys. I don't expect him to have many minutes in this tournament
but I'm glad he's part of this senior team

the way lithuania plays (a great team), I don't expect any individual to be a dominant scorer but rather the stats distributed evenly. Just saw the last 5 min of the 4th quarter showed me how impressive they are as a team. They pass/distribute the ball like the 2006 Euro-Raptors when we were division champs.

Wed Aug 31st, 2011, 02:41 PM

SitnonDfence

JV playing 4:02 is a little dissapointing, i wanted to see what the kids got...2 Rebs...blows calderons Per 48 REB #'s outta the water...

Wed Aug 31st, 2011, 02:45 PM

Soft Euro

Quote:

SitnonDfence wrote:

JV playing 4:02 is a little dissapointing, i wanted to see what the kids got...2 Rebs...blows calderons Per 48 REB #'s outta the water...

True! But Calderon had only 20 fouls per 48 while Valanciunas had 24 fouls per 48.

Add: oops wrong, thought JV had two fouls, but he had a per 48 of 24 turnovers instead of fouls.

Wed Aug 31st, 2011, 02:59 PM

NoPropsneeded

what time will the match start between Canada and Brazil and can someone give me a link to a good site to watch it.

Wed Aug 31st, 2011, 03:01 PM

NoPropsneeded

lol never mind its coming on tsn2 at 7:30pm.

Wed Aug 31st, 2011, 03:24 PM

WJF

Great thread!

I will be watching Canada play Brazil tonight, no Raptors related players on either squad but it is a big game for Canada if they want to make some noise at this tournament.

As for Valanciunas yes, don't expect him play too much. I see him getting ~10 minutes at average. he is 3rd center, but i still see him playing 5-15 minutes in every game and maybe more, if it's his day. two other centers should average 15+15 minutes hopefully leaving 10mins to JV.

Wed Aug 31st, 2011, 03:46 PM

irgigi

Quote:

WJF wrote:

it is a big game for Canada if they want to make some noise at this tournament

Two finalist of the tournament will advance to London Olympics 2011. People see Argentina as definite finalist and another one might be Brasil or Canada most likely. It should be nice game between them, but most important games will be at quarterfinals and semifinals.

Wed Aug 31st, 2011, 05:35 PM

Ambidextrious

Nice to see Lithuania beat GB. Was not happy to see Jonas only get 4 minutes.
I was pleased with Bargnani's production. Not happy to see them lose. I missed the spain game but i saw the highlights. Pau Gasol and Marc Gasol are a potent duo.

Wed Aug 31st, 2011, 06:12 PM

mcHAPPY

Quote:

It has to be hard for Raptors fans to be patient. The franchise has spent over a decade trying to put multiple stars on the floor at once, only to see one premiere talent leave before the next one has been properly groomed.

Tracy McGrady left for Orlando in a sign-and-trade deal in 2000 just after he and second cousin Vince Carter pushed Toronto to its first playoff appearance in franchise history. Carter was gone by December of 2004, just as second-year power forward Chris Bosh was turning himself into a consistent double-double threat. And by the time former first-overall pick Andrea Bargnani was ready to become a consistent 20 PPG scorer, Bosh was forming his own dream town down in Miami.

Now, with Bargnani signed through 2014-2015 (he does have an early-termination option for that season), it’s fifth-overall pick Jonas Valanciunas’ turn to end the cycle. President and general manager Bryan Colangelo made the tactful decision to draft the 7-foot Lithuanian despite a murky buyout situation with Lietuvos Rytas (he can join the Raptors in 2012-2013 once his $2.5 million buyout is paid). Obviously it’s a lot to ask of a fan base to wait an entire season for the arrival of a first-round pick, but the ongoing lockout might make that point completely moot. In fact, Valanciunas has an edge on American rookies, who won’t be playing any competitive basketball in 2011-2012 unless the work stoppage ends. Players like Kyrie Irving and Brandon Knight can only work out with private trainers—and will be praying they don’t injure themselves before signing their first NBA deal—while Valanciunas is ready to compete against top professional talent in EuroBasket, which begins today.

Lithuania, which is hosting this year’s tournament, is in the “Group of Death” (Group A) with Spain, Turkey, Poland, Great Britain and Portugal. That might not be good for fans of the red, green and yellow, but Raptors supporters should eagerly anticipate the first great test of Valanciunas’ career.

Obviously he shined during the U-19 FIBA Championships, where he pushed Lithuania to gold while earning MVP and leading the tournament in points, rebounds and blocks. But outside of Brazil’s Lucas Noguiera, an unpolished but athletic young center, and America’s Patric Young, the tournament was void of any reputable big man for Valanciunas to battle in the post.

That won’t be the case in Group A, where he’ll face Spain’s Serge Ibaka, Marc and Pau Gasol and Portland Trail Blazers draft pick Victor Claver as well as Turkey’s Omer Asik, Ersan Ilyasova, Enes Kanter and Hedo Turkoglu. If and when Lithuania moves into the single-elimination portion of the tournament, European bigs like Germany’s Chris Kaman (ok, he’s from Grand Rapids), Italy’s Bargnani, France’s Boris Diaw, Russia’s Timofey Mozgov, Ukraine’s Kyrylo Fesenko and Georgia’s Zaza Pachulia will be lurking.

Lithuania’s first two games come against Great Britain and a Marcin Gortat-less Poland squad, so Valanciunas will get his first major test Friday against Turkey. Then, on Sunday, Lithuania takes on Spain, the world’s second-ranked team, in the most-anticipated game of the group stage.

Valanciunas likely won’t have a 30-point game or a two-five block nights, as he did in the U-19s, but he’s also going to get the experience of playing with and against NBA talent. Teammates Sarunas Jasikevicius and Darius Songaila have played in the NBA (and, oddly enough, both played college basketball in the ACC) while Marijonas Petravicius, who will soon be teaming with Deron Williams for Istabul’s Besiktas, remains one of the more reliable centers in Europe. Obviously Lithuania isn’t the favorite—the team hasn’t won a tournament since 2003 (European Championships) and finished third at both the 2007 EuroBasket and 2010 FIBA World Championships—but that should work to Valanciunas’ favor. Lithuania will definitely need his size, and without a glut of centers like Turkey or Spain, the 19-year-old big man should be able to get plenty of playing time.

Raptors fans, it isn’t the Air Canada Centre and he’s still not technically on Toronto’s roster, but for the next few weeks your patience will be rewarded as Valanciunas tests himself at EuroBasket.

As for Valanciunas yes, don't expect him play too much. I see him getting ~10 minutes at average. he is 3rd center, but i still see him playing 5-15 minutes in every game and maybe more, if it's his day. two other centers should average 15+15 minutes hopefully leaving 10mins to JV.

Love those Bargnani highlights, especially the ones on defense. Also, it looks like he continued to play hard even as things got rough for Italy, which is a good sign.

Wed Aug 31st, 2011, 06:51 PM

Raśl

I'm live twetting from the game right now at @raul_ruscitti

Wed Aug 31st, 2011, 07:25 PM

Joey

Quote:

Macc wrote:

Love those Bargnani highlights, especially the ones on defense. Also, it looks like he continued to play hard even as things got rough for Italy, which is a good sign.

Indeed ... boxed out well, used his body, moved his feet, looked aggressive. All great signs.
Likely doesn't mean anything though ... unfortunately. haha

Wed Aug 31st, 2011, 09:51 PM

NoPropsneeded

why wasn't tristan thompson on team canada?

Thu Sep 1st, 2011, 12:13 AM

JoePanini

Valanciunas only got 4 minutes in Lithuania's win over Great Britain. He did get 2 rebounds (offensive). I don't think anyone expected Valanciunas to get big minutes, because he is both inexperienced and the European basketball style usually gives an even distribution of minutes around. Game Report

Thu Sep 1st, 2011, 12:15 AM

JoePanini

Quote:

joey_hesketh wrote:

Indeed ... boxed out well, used his body, moved his feet, looked aggressive. All great signs.
Likely doesn't mean anything though ... unfortunately. haha

I liked how he boxed out mostly, and how he was in the paint a lot. Italy could've won if he had been given the ball more often in the first half (where it was pretty much Belinelli throwing bricks) and if Bargnani's second half performance was matched by Gallinari. Unfortunately, he ALWAYS plays well for Italy, but I haven't seen Bargnani box out like that, and stay in the paint all game. I even saw decent team defending there :D